Florida Tech Alumni to Speak Friday on Exoplanet Satellite Mission

Jeff Volosin, Eblan Farris Are Managers in the TESS Program

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Two Florida Institute of Technology alumni who played key roles in the planet-hunting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) that launched Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will discuss the $337 million satellite and its mission at a special event Friday on campus.

Jeff Volosin and Eblan Farris will present, “The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Mission.” The presentation starts at 4 p.m. in Room 140 of the Olin Physical Sciences Center on Florida Tech’s Melbourne campus. Here’s a map. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.

Volosin is project manager for the TESS mission. Over the past 32 years, he has held a variety of positions in the Federal government and aerospace industry. Before joining TESS, he served as NASA’s deputy division chief for space communications. Jeff has supported Earth and space science robotic spacecraft development and operations both at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and at NOAA. He spent 10 years as a systems engineer and life support engineer, studying future human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Volosin graduated from the Florida Tech Space Sciences program in 1986 and went on to serve as a systems engineer, program manager, and senior leader both at NASA and in industry. He has also served as an adjunct professor in the Astronautical Engineering Department of Capitol College.

Eblan Farris earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering in 1986 and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1988, both from Florida Tech, and has taught electrical engineering courses as an adjunct faculty member at the university for five years.

He served as the TESS Mission Assurance Manager. Farris started as a flight controls systems engineer with Lockheed Martin on the Atlas Rocket Program. He was then the lead engineer and system administrator for the Computer Controlled Launch Room. Farris transferred to NASA in 2004 and held a variety of positions in the Launch Services Program. He now serves in the Mission Assurance Branch as the Manager of NASA’s Certification of New Rocket Vehicles.